Jaye Rodenbush – Don’t Die on the Wrong Hill

Youth culture is incredibly fast moving. The trends, fashion and digital media that accompany the culture are purposely fluid and difficult to track. Even the most dutiful researchers, parents and pastors are behind before they even realize it. It is a moving target of powerful influence that is molding and shaping the minds and hearts of this generation.

It’s easy as cultural outsiders (yes, if you were born before 1990, you ARE an outsider) to get overwhelmed and to give up even trying to figure it all out. It means learning new technology, new language and a whole new culture. And so, we slap on a badge of naïveté and throw up our hands, we find an excuse to keep our heads in the sand and avoid the reality of what it means to parent, minister and work with a youth culture that is obsessed with violence, sexuality and death. This is new territory. We don’t understand it all, and even if we did – it will change tomorrow.

There is a deep sense of powerlessness against this revolution and this is likely why so many choose to ignore the crisis altogether. We ignore the devastation and the immorality. We try not to see the desperate emptiness found in the hollow eyes of the teenagers whose bodies are mutilated with tattoos and piercings. All the while, Satan keeps us distracted and distressed by the cares of life, luring us into obligations that don’t really matter until we are consumed by our own business and busyness.

We are living in perilous times. We do not have the time to fight the wrong battles. We must save our mental, emotional and spiritual energy for what matters. Our motives and our priorities must be in line with God’s Word. We must save our strength to fight for ETERNAL things (Ephesians 6:12-13).

Jaye is a speaker and writer. She serves as Dean of Administration and Director of Women’s Ministries at IBC. This article is an excerpt from an IBC Chapel Service that can be found in its entirety at: https://indianabiblecollege.org/podcast/.